


Secret Santa 1992-1993

by Katsudon_fatale



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, M/M, Secret Santa, The Golden Trio Era, hogwarts christmas, hogwwarts second year, muggle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 19:38:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4234152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsudon_fatale/pseuds/Katsudon_fatale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco is Harry Potter’s Secret Santa, and neither of them was happy with the arrangement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secret Santa 1992-1993

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whoever made that post on FB that inspired this fic in the first place](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=whoever+made+that+post+on+FB+that+inspired+this+fic+in+the+first+place).



‘Stupid Potter,’ Draco muttered as he strolled down the length of Diagon Alley. ‘Stupid Potter with his messy hair and Ninbus 2000 broom and his smug little face,’ he spat while his father, Lucius looked on oddly.

‘You know. For someone who can’t stand to be in the same room with Harry Potter, you do talk about him quite a lot,’ he remarked with a frown.

Ignoring his father, Draco walked on, grumpily thinking about the reason he was here today. Their new Muggle Studies teacher had been trying to introduce the whole school to some ludicrous Muggle Christmas practises. One of them is called Secret Santa, and involved Malfoy buying a present for someone in his year. Given that there was ¾ chance of him getting someone he disliked, Malfoy was less than happy about this activity. 

Imagine his agony when he opened a piece of torn parchment, and Harry Potter’s name was written on it.

‘Stupid, idiotic, good for nothing Potter,’ Malfoy mumbled again, for he wouldn’t have been out in this cold weather if he didn’t have to buy him a gift. 

He would have been content giving Harry Potter a bag of mud or worms or anything unpleasant, but his father insisted on a proper gift, which Draco didn’t understand. Surely a death eater would despise a boy who defeated the Dark Lord? His father had said something being respectful for the sake of their family’s reputation, how Christmas was the season of giving etc. 

‘Even though it is Potter?’ Draco had whined.

‘Despite it being Harry Potter, yes,’ Lucius nodded solemnly.

This was when Draco decided, his father was as terrible as the scarhead himself.

‘How about this?’ His father stopped in front of another shop window. 

Draco sighed and looked. It was a simple quill with a soft feather (wider and fuller on one side than on the other) and a gold tip. It looked understated, but was obviously an expensive quill (if you know where to look for the signs, like Draco did).

‘Yeah, anything will do. It is just Potter.’

‘Alright then,’ Lucius walked into the shop. ‘I am sure they have some with red feathers. Red for Gryffindor, I suppose?’ He asked.

‘No, not red. Green,’ Draco grinned. ‘He hated this colour,’ he answered when he saw his father’s questioning gaze.

 Lucius sighed. ‘And you would know. Wouldn’t you?’

 ~ ~ ~

‘Oh wow,’ Hermione and Ron couldn’t help but widened their eyes when Harry took out a green-feathered quill out of a nicely wrapped box. His gift from Secret Santa. 

‘It is a… Nice quill?’ Harry spoke, not understanding their enthusiasm.

‘Not just nice, Harry. Federschmuck is the most esteemed quill maker in Europe, and possibly beyond. My mom said it would cost Dad six months’ salary to get one,’ Ron said.

'Also, Harry, the quill can sharpen itself, among other things that normal quills cannot do,’ Hermione added. ‘Or so I read from A Short History of the Best Quills and Their Makers.’

Harry held the quill in his hand. It did have very nice grip. ‘I wonder whom this is from,’ he looked around. ‘Who would buy such an expensive gift?’ 

‘Those that have enough money to think this isn’t expensive at all?’ Ron suggested with a hint of bitterness, as the trio’s gaze fell on the sole five Slytherins, sitting by their own in a corner of the classroom. 

‘I guess it is Malfoy,’ Hermione whispered. Draco, who had been staring the Harry inconspicuously immediately looked away when he saw Harry looking at him.

‘Him? But…’ Harry stammered. This was one of his best Christmas present ever, and yet by some bitter twist of fate it had to be from his worst enemy?

‘Green is Slytherin’s colour, and the colour you disliked most,’ Hermione reasoned.

‘And I bet Malfoy knows it,’ Ron chipped in, agreeing with Hermione.

Harry stole another glance at Malfoy. He was still looking in his lap, and… Is he blushing?

~ ~ ~

As nice as the quill looked, Harry hadn’t touched it other than the day the Secret Santa presents were exchanged. It simply sat in his little pouch where he kept all his other quills, unused. 

Why?

Because it is from sodding Malfoy. That’s why.

Sitting down in the library, he took out a blank piece of parchment to start his Charms essay. Taking out his pouch, he picked out one of his newer quills, which sadly, still looked rather worn with its battered feather and blunt tip. 

‘Harry,’ Hermione whispered from across the table. ‘Why don’t you use your new quill. It would be a shame for it to go to waste,’

‘Not if it is from Malfoy. I bet he has probably jinxed it anyway,’ Harry answered, resolutely ignoring the way his own quill dragged on the parchment, splattering black ink in some places, and drawing really thin lines in others. 

Hermione frowned. ‘You really hate Malfoy, don’t you?’

~ ~ ~

By the fourth day after that Secret Santa exchange session, Harry’s resolve was beginning to weaken. His quills were all too old to function properly. Also, wouldn’t it be rude to not use a gift from someone? After all, Malfoy did spend time buying the gift, and it was expensive. Thinking that, Harry was beginning to feel slightly guilty for his rudeness and overreaction.

Luckily, Malfoy amended that quickly in their next Potions lesson.  

‘No, Potter. It said here to crush the flower, not cut it,’ Draco whispered-yelled in lessons as Harry attempted to prepare the ingredients for their potion.

Harry stammered as he quickly checked the instructions. ‘Well… Cut or crush, I still add the flowers so it is fine. Look, the potion is bubbling, just like the picture on the textbook. It didn't make a difference, Malfoy.’ Harry argued. He doesn’t care if he was right or not, he simply wanted to contradict Malfoy.

‘Just because everyone hailed you as the Saviour of the Wizard World doesn’t mean you can start correcting textbook instructions’ Malfoy insisted, eager to have the last word. 

If Potions lessons were terrible, Potions lessons in which he had to partner with Malfoy were hell. So far, they had disagreed on every single step written in the text book. Well, mostly it was Harry doing something wrong, and Malfoy pointing it out loudly and embarrassing him, to the snicker of other Slytherins. Harry didn’t understand why they were partnered together, but given that Snape simply hated him and that he looked especially bad-tempered today, Harry wouldn’t be surprised if he did it simply to make him miserable.

Harry was about to reply, but thought better of it as Snape walked past beside them. Instead, he concentrated on the next ingredient he had to add. Three spoonfuls of leech water.

‘Give me that. I don’t want you to mess up any further,’ Draco tried to grab the leech water from Harry but the latter backed away.

‘I can do it, Malfoy,’ Harry replied angrily, defending his potions making ability. Where was he? Oh yes, three spoonfuls of leech water. 

‘I swear, if the potion fail because of you…’ 

‘What? Your Father will hear about this?’ Harry quipped as he continued adding the leech water. 

Malfoy seethed. ‘If I tell my Father about every time you make a potion unsuccessfully, I would have talked his ears off long ago!’ 

‘Maybe if you would stop nagging and breathing down my neck, I can actually…’

But what Harry could actually do, we never knew. Because at that exact moment, the cauldron exploded, sending droplets of solution everywhere. The whole classroom began to smell of rotten eggs, and Harry had to bit back a laugh as he saw Professor Snape’s fuming face. Funnier still, he was right in front of the cauldron at that time, meaning that his robe was completely soaked with the foul-smelling solution.

‘How much Leech water did you add?’ Malfoy hissed angrily and it was only then when Harry looked at his bottle of leech water, which had became empty, save for a single inch at the bottom. 

‘Three?’ But he knew he was wrong. He was adding his third spoonful when Malfoy began arguing with him so he argued back, all the while pouring more leech water into the cauldron unconsciously.

‘Detention after school today, Potter.’ Snape spoke icily after surveying the damage to the classroom. Draco laughed at Harry’s misfortune, and apparently it was the wrong thing to do, because Snape turned his head to him. ‘You too, Malfoy.’

Malfoy stopped smiling, shocked at Snape’s treatment of the supposed Slytherin golden child. This time, it was Harry who grinned.

~ ~ ~

‘It is your fault,’ Malfoy seethed during detention when Snape went out of the (now clean) potions classroom for a few minutes.

‘You started it,’ Harry said, though he wasn’t so sure. To him, neither him nor Draco started another fight today. The start of their only fight went back to the day they met on the train. It simply hadn’t stopped since then, with every moment between their arguments a short intermission. Harry doubted they would ever stop arguing. Good thing fighting with Malfoy was actually something he enjoyed. Malfoy pulled the most ridiculous expressions when he didn’t know what to talk back during one of they many arguments.

Malfoy muttered something but Harry ignored him. If he wanted to finish his Potions homework which was due in tomorrow, he had to start now. He smirked when he felt Draco’s anger at Harry’s lack of reaction. Good thing Snape confiscated their wands before he went out, or Malfoy would have already jinxed him for sure.

‘Just so you know,’ Harry glanced at Malfoy’s displeased expression. ‘I may not have my wand, but I can still inflict damage with my books and stationary if the situation calls for it.’

Malfoy laughed mockingly. ‘What? With you bunch of broken, old quills?’ He frowned when he saw the unused quill in Harry’s bag. ‘You know, When someone give you a quill as a Christmas present, you are supposed to use it.’

‘Not if it is from you, Malfoy,’ Harry answered as he continued scribbling on his work. ‘Also, my quills work just fin…,’ he cursed suddenly as a big drop of ink dropped on the parchment from the tip of his quill, effectively covering the word he was writing.  

‘Yeah they do,’ Malfoy replied with sarcasm. ‘Use the quill I gave you, Potter. I didn’t walk around Diagon Alley for a day to get you a present which you don’t use.’ 

Harry ignored him as he looked in his pouch, trying to look for another quill that would work better. 

‘Oh Merlin’s sake!’ Draco exclaimed at Harry’s stubbornness. ‘I had to get you a present because of a bloody Muggle practise, and believe me, you weren’t the only one unhappy about it. Get over yourself, Potter. And use my quill. 

Harry ignored him, determined to not use the damn quill, especially because Malfoy asked him too. Draco appeared exasperated, then grinned as he thought of what to do. 

Standing up, he walked to the front front of Harry Potter’s desk. And before Harry could voice any objection, Draco grabbed his pouch, took out the new green quill, and chucked the whole thing (with all of Harry’s old stationary) into the rubbish bin. 

Grinning at Harry’s flabbergasted face, Draco placed the green-feather quill back on Harry’s desk. ‘Now you have to use my quill,’ he said smugly, before waltzing back to his seat.

Harry stared at his sole remaining quill - the Federschmuck one that the insolent Draco Malfoy had given him. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. All of his quills. Into the bin! What was Malfoy thinking? How dare he? 

Good job, Draco congratulated himself. Not everyone could render ‘the boy who lived’ speechless. His mirth increased further as Harry tried to grab his wand, forgetting for a moment that it had been taken by Professor Snape. ‘Malfoy,’ slowly, Harry turned to look at him with an odd glint in his eyes, and Malfoy would be lying if he wasn’t just a tiny bit scared. 

Fortunately for him, however, Snape returned exactly the moment Harry decided to test how much damage he could inflict on Malfoy’s skull with his Potions textbook. ‘I thought,’ he spoke loftily, ’that you two were meant to be working?’ 

‘Malfoy… Malfoy threw my…’ Harry started but was interrupted by Snape with a wave of his hand, who was admittedly sick of their shenanigans. 

‘Only you two can start trouble in a detention that happened because you two got into trouble,’ Snape closed his eyes and rubbed his temples as he prayed for more patience. ‘Do your work, or should I get Filch to supervise you two while I am out?’ The name of the school caretaker had a miraculous effect on both students, for they immediately stopped talking and began to work again. Draco, to his satisfaction, saw Harry gripped the green quill begrudgingly and dipped it into the ink.

‘This is your fault,’ Harry whispered the moment Snape left again. He had to admit, his handwriting now looked so much better when he had a new and sharpened quill. He scribbled as he battled between common courtesy and hatred for his fellow Slytherin student. Courtesy won out. ’Thank you, Malfoy.’

A pause, then… ‘Don’t worry, Potter. It was obligatory.’

For a few minutes, there was only sounds of quills scratching the parchment in the air. Then, Harry broke the silence. ‘How did you know I hate Green though?’

‘What makes you think I know?’ Malfoy answered immediately, and Harry laughed at the obvious lie.

‘Of course you do. Otherwise you wouldn’t have bought a quill in that colour,’ Harry considered as he spoke. In a strange way, Malfoy did care about what to get him, even though the gift was aimed to irritate more than please. Of course, Harry supposed it would be difficult to remain indifferent to each other when two people have been nemesis for so long. Still, he smiled. Malfoy did care.

‘Thank you, Malfoy,’ Harry repeated, and this time, he was being sincere.

Draco didn’t reply. Puzzled, Harry looked up to see Malfoy staring at the table as he wrote furiously, and… 

Is Malfoy blushing?


End file.
